Happily never after
by Ami Rotter
Summary: Ron and Hermione were meant to be, of course. Think again! How will Hermione react to seeing Ron 15 years after he left her alone?
1. A chance meeting

A thirty-six-year-old Hermione walked through Diagon Alley this was the day she had dreamed about for a long time she was finally buying robes and books for her oldest daughter Millie who had turned 11 only two weeks ago. She wasn't sure who was more excited about this herself or Millie, who was running from shop to shop picking various items up.

Her husband Dean was at home with their twin boys Juan and Felix who were only five. Hermione smiled to herself she could never of imagined her life would turn out this good with a great family and an even better husband.

"Mum mum mum can I please get an owl Uncle Harry got one for Albus, pleeeaassseeee!" Millie broke Hermione from her trounce and was now bouncing up and down in front of her mother.

"Why not get a cat they are much easier to look after."

"But mum I really want an owl we can get the best one and then I will be able to write to you all the time and you won't even notice that I'm gone and everything!" Mille smiled towards her mum hoping that it would push her over the edge and make her say yes.

"Ok honey if that is what you want but you will have to look after it." Hermione chuckled to herself at the persistence of her daughter she could see some of herself in her. Walking towards the owls Hermione was nearly bowled over sideways by a boy holding a cat. The next thing she knew the parent was running past too.

"Fred come back here with that cat, you can have him just as long as you come here now. Fred I will hex you in to next week if you don't come back." Hermione was rooted to the spot she hadn't seen Ron in fifteen years and it had ended badly between them. She wasn't sure if she should stay and greet Ron or if she should try and sneak out and hope he hadn't seen her.

"Hermione er hi em I hope Fred didn't run in to you." Ron shifted uncomfortably on the spot.

"No er no he didn't I'm ok." Hermione could feel the tension between the two of them. She could see Millie wondering around the owls, completely oblivious to what was going on. Fred was sitting in a corner with the cat he had run off with.

"So how have you been then? It's been a while."

"I've been good I'm just bringing my daughter to get her Hogwarts stuff she's starting in September." Hermione said quietly. "How about you?"

"Well my son Fred is starting in September too, so er how are things going with Dean then?" Ron felt uncomfortable asking that, but he needed to know. He wished it hadn't ended quite the way it did between himself and Hermione.

"They're going good, it's our twelve year anniversary tomorrow. How about you? Ginny said you got married to Lavender."

"Yeah me and Lavender got back together, she's different now she's better." Ron could see the surprise on Hermione's face it's the same look he got when he told Harry that he was going to ask Lavender to marry him.

"Oh that's good, well I will see you on platform 9 ¾ in a few weeks." Hermione hurried over to Millie she couldn't get out of the shop quick enough so she grabbed the most expensive owl, paid for it and left. Millie didn't care her mother seemed slightly flustered all she knew was she had got the best owl in the shop. Hermione rushed through the next few shops picking up books and supplies and throwing them into Millie's hands.

"Mum can you carry something my arms are really Hurting." Hermione turned to see her daughter buried under a pile of books and robes. She had been on auto pilot since she had bumped in to Ronald.

"Sorry honey, pass those to me. Right we just need to get you a wand and I need to get a present for your dad. Right take this money go to that shop over there and get you wand sorted I will be there in ten minutes. You won't even notice I'm gone." Hermione smiled and watched Millie all the way to the door once she was inside Hermione made her way to find a present for Dean. She knew he had told her not to do this, but she wanted to as he had been down recently at work so she wanted to cheer him up.

Walking through Diagon Alley she spotted the perfect present it was the Nimbus 3000 even Hermione knew this was a good broom. She raced in to the shop and up to the counter "Nimbus 3000 please." She panted.

"It is a good broom fastest on the market you know, buying it for yourself miss?" The shop assistant said as he wrapped it.

"No it's a present for my husband, it's our anniversary tomorrow so I wanted to get him something." Hermione smiled.

"Well I think this will do the trick then. Would you like me to gift wrap it?"

"Oh yes please that would be great." Once she had paid for the broom she raced down to meet Millie who was standing outside the shop wand in hand. "Did you have enough money for your wand?"Millie just nodded. "Right then lets head home then." They found the nearest fireplace to floo home going together to make sure Millie didn't end up in the wrong place.

"Right honey can you go and distract your dad while I go and hide his present." Hermione sent Millie to the Kitchen which was in plain view of the fireplace. Running upstairs with all the goodies they had bought today Hermione raced to her room and hid the broom behind the wardrobe. She dumped Millie's purchases her bedroom before going back down stairs.

"Hermione you are home then, Millie wouldn't tell me where you've gone." Dean embraced his wife who looked like she had just run a race.

"I was just putting Millie's things in her room." Hermione said hugging her two boys as they ran from the kitchen. "Mmmm dinner smells good."

"Well it should do I spent all day cooking it." Dean handed Hermione a plate.

"Well aren't you a good husband." She pulled him in close for a kiss while the kids were out of the kitchen. Dean wrapped his arms around her before a "ewww" broke their embrace. They both turned to see Juan sanding by the sink. They both laughed to each other and joined the children for dinner.


	2. Happy anniversary

Hermione got up early the next morning she wanted to make sure everything was perfect for Dean when he got up. She loved spending time with on their anniversary even after twelve years it filled her with butterflies.

She had to try and sneak out the broom she had bought the previous day from behind the wardrobe without waking Dean. It wasn't long before Hermione had the table set with a big breakfast and she placed the broom on the table next to it. A knock on the front door announce the arrival of Ginny her babysitter extraordinaire, she was going to take the children for the day with Harry.

"Morning Hermione, everything ready?" Ginny walked through the open door.

"Nearly, I was a bit naughty yesterday and I bought Dean a present." Hermione made a guilty smile.

"I thought you two weren't buying presents for each other this year."

"I know but I just couldn't help myself he's been so down because of work so I thought I would try and cheer him up."

"Well what did you get him?" Ginny said looking around the house.

"I got him a new broom." Hermione winced

"That must have cost you a lot."

"I can afford it now since the war. I bumped in to Ron yesterday when I was in Diagon Alley."

"Yeah he told me how was it?" Ginny looked concerned.

"It was ok bit weird though I suppose it was going to be as we hadn't seen each other in so long." Hermione walked towards the stairs. "I'll get the kids just give me a quick floo if they cause you any trouble."

"Don't worry Hermione, we have the whole day planned." Ginny smiled. Hermione dragged her children downstairs and made sure that everything was in order.

"Now make sure you behave for Ginny and Harry or you won't be able to use any magic for a week ok." She said before Ginny took them off. Before Hermione knew it Dean was on his way down the stairs. She stood near the bottom ready to great him. "Morning honey happy anniversary." She said kissing him on the cheek.

"Morning 'Mione have you been up preparing this? You should have woken me up too." He wrapped his arms around her.

"I wanted to surprise you plus I have to get your present downstairs before you could see it."

"You bought me a present?" Hermione looked guilty. "Don't worry I could help myself too I bought you one. Wait one minute while I go and get it." He gave a quick kiss on the lips before he ran up to the bedroom to retrieve the present he had hidden under the bed three weeks beforehand. Moments later he appeared back at the bottom of the staircase with a box in his hand.

"What is it?" Hermione looked intrigued.

"It is a heart pendant and it has a picture of me and the kids in it. I know it's a little cheesy, but I thought it would be cute."

"Aw it's brilliant Dean." Hermione threw her arms around Dean and pulled him close for a long kiss. "Now for mine, I know you've been a bit down recently so I wanted to get you something good." She handed him the broom and watched the smile on his face broaden.

"Hermione this is amazing, I can't wait to go to training and show them my new broom." He hugged her so tightly she thought she would pop. "This is the best present ever."

"Now for breakfast." Hermione said triumphantly indicating towards the piles of toast, sausages and bacon.

"Mmm I'm smells good. Hermione I don't deserve you."

"It's our anniversary don't count on it all the time." Hermione grinned before she took a seat on the opposite side of the table. "So what do you want to do today?"

"Well I can think of a couple of things now that the kids are gone." Dean had a devilish grin on his face. Hermione just raised her eyebrows. "After that you know we could go for a walk." Dean and Hermione never did anything particularly special on their anniversary. Hermione never thought it was necessary she just wanted to spend some time alone with her husband.

"That sounds lovely." She smiled as she tucked in to her food. Dean put the plates away once they finished breakfast and began to put his shoes on to go out walking. "Dean I'd rather you didn't wear shoes in bed." Dean looked puzzled for a moment before he grinned and followed Hermione upstairs. It was difficult to get moments like this with young children who had no concept of privacy. They learnt early on that any time they tried to get intimate one of the kids would come in to the bedroom with some sort of request. So they took any chance they were given; every so often they would get friends to look after the kids and they would do the same for their friends but it was difficult. Dean kissed Hermione hard it had been a while since he was able to do this. Hermione responded with a moan this was defiantly a good way to start the day.

"Oh I'd almost forgotten how good that could be." Dean said lying on his back. "Can we just lie here all day?" He wrapped his arms around his wife.

"I would love to but it might be nice to see some sunlight today."

"Well if I open the curtains we will be able to see it." Hermione giggled as she climbed out of bed.

"Come on put your clothes on we're going for a walk." Dean was slow to move but eventually he was ready to walk. It was three hours later when they finally arrived back at the house. This time Dean made lunch and refused to leave the house for the rest of the day. So they settled in to the living room and spent the rest of the afternoon talking and playing in the garden. "Right." Hermione said breathlessly as she sat down on a couch in the living room, Dean had been trying to teach her football again. "I am going to pick the kids up from Harry and Ginny, they're probably sick and tired of them by now." Hermione gave Dean a quick kiss before she apparated away.

"Hermione Christ you gave me a fright." Harry, who was out in the garden, said after catching his breath.

"I'm sorry, I've just come to get the kids."

"Oh right I'll go in and get them. They've been well behaved today which is more than could be said for Lily who managed to blow up the wireless." Harry shook his head.

"How did she manage that?"

"Not entirely sure, we just came downstairs after hearing a bang and she was trying to hide it." Hermione laughed at the prospect.

"Mum!" Her children came flying out through the front door.

"Come one guys, let's go home." Hermione waved bye to Harry and Hermione before she flooed home with the kids.


	3. Secrets and lies

Hermione made her way to platform 9 ¾ knowing that she was going to have to see him again. This time Dean was with her so maybe he wouldn't come near her.

"Right honey you have to run towards the centre of the wall." She smile at Harry as he made his way towards the wall with his children. "Make sure you do it at a little run so you get through. Don't worry you will go through it." Hermione noticed the worried look on Millie's face.

"Well not always I once ran in to it in second year." Harry laughed.

"Oh thanks Harry you're a great help." Hermione smacked him on the arm.

"I'm sorry I just thought I should point out that if there is a house elf that wants to stop you from getting to platform 9 ¾ then you will run in to the wall. But I'm sure no one will close it on you Millie." He smiled towards Millie and smiled back before she took a run up towards the wall. She got through to the other side quickly followed by her parents and the Potter family.

"This is weird standing here and knowing we're not going to Hogwarts." Ginny said as they boarded the children on the train.

"Fred come on." She could hear Millie shouting.

"Like father like son. Ron could never arrive on time." Ginny turned around to see her brother and Lavender running towards the train with their oldest Fred. Hermione stood rooted to the spot not wanting to look at Ron. She could see his red hair next to her and could feel the heat from his body on hers. She got quite a surprise when she felt a piece of paper slide in to her hand, but she still didn't move.

She didn't read the paper until she was sat down at her desk in the auror's office.

_Dear Hermione,_

_I know we left things badly all those years ago but I want to be friends again._

_Please meet me in the Leaky Cauldron at one I will be waiting for you there._

_Love_

_Ron_

The letter unsettled her slightly not really knowing what to do about it. Her and Ron hadn't exactly said nice things to each other when they broke up. After spending most of the morning looking at the letter instead of doing any work she decided that it was best to go and see Ron, even if it was just to save her sanity.

Hermione felt nervous as she walked through the front door of the Leaky Cauldron. Seeing Ron sat on the opposite side of the pub made her stomach flip. She still had feelings for hansom red haired man, but there was no way she was going to let them get the better of her. She was Hermione Thomas, she had fought dark wizards this was nothing!

"Hermione you came." Ron beamed as she sat down.

"I was curious about what you had to say, I mean there is a reason I have avoided you all this time."

"I know, but I thought that as our kids are going to school together now that we might try and be civil to each other and maybe even attempt being friends."

"Ronald we have never been civil to each other." The corners of Hermione's mouth began to encroach upwards.

"I know, but maybe we can try." Ron smiled at the release of tension from Hermione's body.

"It's not going to be easy you know. There is a lot of stuff that we are going to have to discuss. I mean you left me to go to Romania with your brother and I had to pick up the pieces. There was nothing else that I could do." Tears welled up in Hermione's eyes, memories of that day fifteen years ago. "So how long have you been back in England then?" She decided to change the subject.

"About a year I wanted Fred and Cynthia to go to Hogwarts so we moved back. I'm working with George at the magic shop. They've got so busy over the past couple of years he needs all the help he can get." Ron smiled when he realised that he was babbling.

"Sounds fun."

"How about you are you still in the auror's office?"

"Yeah I am the head these days although we don't have that much to do mostly just idiots playing tricks." Hermione glanced around the room, she still hadn't quite settled. "I think I'd better be getting back to work you know I have so much paperwork to be getting through."

"Well we need to talk again I can't stand this anymore." Ron said standing up.

"Well you stood it for fifteen years you can stand it for a few more weeks." Hermione snapped and stormed out. She didn't quite know where that had come from, but she felt better for it. Wishing she had stayed at work Hermione made her way back there. Trying to push memories, which she had blocked out years ago, away again she sat down at her desk and delved in to the mountain of paperwork that was calling out to her.

~*~*~*~*~*~

"Ron you can't leave me like this not now, I can't do it on my own." Hermione pleaded to Ron as he packed a suitcase full of clothes.

"Hermione I need to get away I can't cope with all of this anymore I just keep getting reminders of Fred. It's been four years and I need to move on. I'm so sorry, but I have to do this." He had tears in his eyes, which wouldn't make contact with Hermione's.

"Ron if you go out that door I am never speaking to you again." She screamed pointlessly as Ron walked through the front door of their two-bedroom flat.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Hermione are you ok." Colin Creevey broke her out of a daydream or more daymare.

"Yep sorry Colin I zoned out there. Can I help you?" Hermione adjusted herself.

"Yep we seem to have a case of exploding toilets in Victoria station London. Everyone else is out on various jobs and I can't do it on my own."

"Right I'll be with you know then." Hermione lifted herself of her chairs. Since the end of the war the auror office hadn't really been doing auror work. Not all of the bad wizards had gone, but they were much fewer and far between.

Hermione's day picked up slightly when she found an owl from her daughter. 'Blimey that was quick' she thought to herself as she picked up the parchment.

_Dear Mum_

_I thought I would test out Sherbet Lemon and his flying abilities so I hope this gets to you quickly. Have been shown our dorm room and it is brilliant. I have made friends with Fred and a girl in my dorm called Andrea. I will write to you again soon I miss you already._

_Love_

_Millie_

Hermione smiled at the letter she couldn't believe the owl was called Sherbet Lemon.


	4. Not again

Hermione was on her way to meet Ron for the fifth time in two weeks. She still hadn't warmed to the idea of being friends with Ron, but she had enjoyed venting her feelings about him leaving to him. She had held them in for fifteen years and it was just nice to let them go. Hermione had lied to Dean about where she was going after work so that he didn't get suspicious.

"What was so urgent Ron? I can't keep meeting you like this Dean will begin to wonder." Hermione demanded as Ron opened the front door to his house.

"I'm sorry, but I really need to talk to you about this." They walked to the living room and sat down. "I've been thinking about what we were talking about on Tuesday and I want to see him."

"What?" Hermione was initially confused by Ron's comment.

"I want to see Jacob."

"No Ron you can't. I don't even know where he is. You can't do this to me; not now." Hermione stood up angrily.

"Come on Hermione I know you want to see him too."

"No Ron it's not going to happen. I have made my life now and you're not going to ruin in again. If you and I are going to be friends you are going to let this lie, ok Ron." She made for the door and Ron just nodded. "Right I will see you again some time. I don't want to hear any more about this."

"Sorry Hermione. Let me make it up to you. I'll buy you a drink after work on Friday yeah?" He was now leaning against the open door as Hermione made her way down the driveway.

"Ok I will meet you in the Leaky Cauldron at around eight, see you later Ron." She walked down the drive and apparated back home to find a letter on her dining table."

"Mum you're back." Her twins Juan and Felix grabbed her around the legs.

"Hey boys, how was your day at aunty Ginny's house?"

"Great we got to fly around on Albus' old broom." Felix bounced up and down with excitement.

"Sounds fun, do you know where your dad is?"

"He's upstairs." Juan ran off up the stairs as soon as he'd said it. Hermione read the letter as she walked up towards her bedroom.

_Hermione,_

_We have an emergency at the Ministry of Magic. I'm afraid that is all the details I can give you any more details over owl. Please get to the office as soon as possible._

_Regards_

_Justin Finch-Fletchley_

This day is not going to end Hermione thought to herself as she stuffed the letter in her pocket. She found Dean lying on the bed writing down football tactics. Even though he had spent years in Hogwarts his love for football was too much and he became a football coach. He was now the manager of a conference team. They'd had some members of the team over before without many mishaps. Nobody really asked questions when you blamed things blowing on the children.

"Hey honey how was Pavrati's?" Dean looked up to see his wife standing in the doorway.

"It was good catching up you know. I'm really sorry though I have to go I just got an owl from work saying there's an emergency. I don't know when I'll be back." Hermione looked apologetically towards Dean.

"Do you have to go? I've hardly seen you with all this work." He wrapped his arms around Hermione and pulled her in close.

"Yeah I really do." She kissed him hard before she went to say goodnight to her children. "Juan, Felix mummy has to go back to work are you going to come and say bye?"

"Bye mum." They both ran at her again to hug her. It was only a few moments before she was in the auror office being filled in the details of the emergency.

"What was so important you had to pull me away from my kids?" She brought Justin in to her office.

"Sorry but it's important someone has been murdered. I sent Hannah to keep the muggle police away while we were waiting for you to come in." Justin said franticly.

"Right ok do we know who it is?"

"It's eh Draco Malfoy miss." Hermione's stomach dropped. She hated him, but she always like to see the best in people and believed he was changing. Malfoy was the head of the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Department. He had been doing his best to rectify everything he and his father had done to muggles.

"Ok I am going to head over and see what Hannah knows can you please get the rest of the office in this is a very high profile murder. I want this solved as soon as possible."

"Right I'm on it." Justin left the office immediately. Hermione still couldn't believe that Malfoy was dead. Before she asked Hannah for any details she asked her to take her to the body. It was definitely him Draco Malfoy had met quite a painful end by the look on his face. Hermione thought she had seen the end of this when the war had ended but it seemed not.

"Thanks Hannah do you know if anyone saw what happened?" Hermione finally switch her attention from the body to Hannah who was looking distinctly uncomfortable about standing so close to Malfoy.

"There is a muggle who lives in the house across the road said she saw two people enter the house early this evening. His son Scorpius is at Hogwarts, but his wife is missing." They made their way out of Malfoy's bedroom and down the stairs to look at the rest of the house.

"Do you know his wife's name?"

"She is called Astoria and she works at the nursery up the road. She never turned up for work this morning."

"O.K. did this neighbour see them leave?" Hermione had a pensive look on her face.

"No she didn't, which confirms that they were witches or wizards." Hermione could hear the rest of the auror office arriving outside with popping coming from near the front door. She made her way to the garden preparing herself for a very long night.

"Right guys we have a situation here Draco Malfoy has been killed." At the mention of the name the aurors began to look at each other worried. "I don't know why and I don't know who, but his wife is missing and he has a child in Hogwarts. I know some of you don't like the man but his family are our priority now." She gazed over the group who had pulled themselves away from their families at her command.

"Right Gerrity and Justin I need you to go Hogwarts and explain to Headmaster McGonagall about the situation and make sure his son is ok. I need you posted at Hogsmead after that I don't want this child hurt.

"Angelina, Peterson and Hannah I need you to investigate the crime scene. Harry and I are going to find his wife we need this kept quiet. I don't want anyone to find out about the death not even members of the Ministry." Harry Potter was now the Deputy Minister of Magic under Kingsley Shacklebolt, who was still going strong, but he still liked helping out in the Auror office as one of the best aurors in the Ministry.

"I can't believe this has happened we haven't had a death like this in years."

"I know I'm scared Harry I don't want another war. I can't have another war." Hermione showed her emotions to Harry.

"Don't worry we will not have another war, not if I have anything to do with it." Harry squeezed her hand to reassure her. "Right lets go to the office maybe Malfoy has something there to indicate who took his wife."

Harry and Hermione spent the next four hours looking for any indication of who had done this. Malfoy had clearly left the office in a hurry earlier that day with papers left strewn across his office. Hermione was about to give up on finding any information in Malfoy's office when she found a note.

"Harry I think someone took Astoria so they could get Malfoy away from the office."

"Is there anything on it that might tell us where she is or who took her?"

"All it says is you took my family away from me so I'm taking yours." Hermione look on both sides of the parchment. "Basically we've got someone who probably lost their family during the war. That could be absolutely anyone."

"I have an idea who it could be. Who was most against Malfoy joining the ministry?"Hermione knew where Harry was going with this.


	5. White lies

Hermione had been working all night and day and it had finally led to this, she knew where Draco Malfoy's wife was hidden. She also knew who had killed Malfoy and taken his wife, but she wasn't sure if they were going to still be there.

Her eyes were drooping now; the only thing keeping her awake was the five cups of coffee she had drunk before she had left the office.

"Ok guys wands at the ready, anyone could be in here. I want no casualties, Angelina you take the lead." She indicated to the girl she used to go to school with. The aurors made their way in to the house. They were met by the sight of Malfoy's wife bound tightly to a chair, with no sign of the perpetrator.

"Mrs Malfoy, are you ok?"" Harry untied the distressed woman.

"Who are you?" She said once she was unbound.

"We are from the arour office; we have been searching for you all night." Harry said with an ounce of relief in his voice. "I'm sorry to say, but your husband has been killed."

"I don't have a husband; what are you talking about?" Astoria looked confused.

"Shit, Hermione she has been obliviated." Harry waved his hand angrily through the air.

"She knows nothing then?" Hermione had been looking around the house for any signs.

"She doesn't even know she has a husband."

"What is all this talk about a husband? I told you I don't have one. Now can you please take me away from here, I want to go home to my parents." Astoria was standing close to Harry.

"Can you please go with Hannah over here and she will take you to St Mungo's. It's just a precaution ok." Hermione spoke softly. She waited until Astoria had left until ordering the aurors in to action. "Right guys I want you to search the house from top to bottom. Try to see if you can find any evidence of where Ernie McMillan has gone. He is armed and dangerous and needs to be stopped immediately!"

"You really think it's Ernie?" Justin asked with a sorrowful look on his face. Ernie had been one of his close friends in school and he didn't want to believe he could have done it.

"I'm afraid so, this is his house after all." Hermione shrugged and began to search the house. It was hours before Hermione called off the search at Ernie's house. The aurors, exhausted, left empty handed. Most of them went home, but the unlucky few had to stay on to keep the office running.

Hermione made her way to the Leaky Cauldron to meet Ron, she was going to stay for ten minutes and go back to work. By now she could barely stand, but she had promised to relieve the other aurors of their work.

"Hey, 'Mione, you look exhausted." Ron greeted her as she sat down.

"I haven't slept; I've been at work since I spoke to you yesterday." Hermione rested her head on her hands.

"Come on, I'm taking you back to mine and you are getting some sleep." Ron walked around the table and helped Hermione to her feet.

"No I need to go back to work." Hermione protested.

"You are not going back to work." Before she knew it Ron had apparated the pair of them to his house. "You are going to bed, I will cover for you. I was an auror before, I'm sure I can cope now."

"What about Lavender, what will she say when she finds me in your bed?"

"She has gone away for a week to a spa; so it will be fine." Ron showed her to his room and apparated to the ministry. Hermione felt uncomfortable being on her own in Ron's house, but she was too tired to apparate herself back home. She must have passed out as soon as she hit the pillow, because the next thing she remembered was opening her eyes to find Ron staring over her.

"How long was I asleep?" She said rubbing her eyes.

"A good few hours." Ron sat at the end of the bed. "Harry is in the office now, so you can have the rest of the day off if you want."

"I can't, I need to get back. I need to go and see Dean first, he will be wondering where I am." Ron's face dropped at the mention of Dean's name.

"Oh right, we'll have to talk some other time then. I have something important that I need to you about."

"What is it?" Hermione was putting her shoes on.

"No it's ok I will talk to you about it when you have more time." Ron shuffled from foot to foot, uncomfortably.

"You know Ron, we could do with another auror in the office. We have a bit of a crisis going on and you were a good auror, before you left."

"Yeah sounds good, I don't think George really needs me to help him at the shop any longer." The thought of being able to spend more time with Hermione cheered Ron up.

"Come in to the office tomorrow afternoon and we can talk about money and stuff." With all her stuff gathered Hermione made her way towards the door. "Thank you, for letting me sleep here." Hermione went to kiss Ron on the cheek, but confusion meant they met in the middle. It seemed like an eternity before Hermione pulled away, blushing vividly.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean." Ron's cheeks matched that of his hair, with roaring embarrassment.

"Well I'd better be off." Hermione smiled briefly and made her way out of the house. She needed to get home, it had been hours since she had seen her family.

"Where the heck have you been?" Was the greeting she got from Dean when she walked through the front door.

"What?" Hermione said stunned by the abrupt welcoming, she had expected a slightly warmer homecoming.

"I've been worried sick about you. You left to go to work two days ago, I couldn't get hold of anyone in the office for ages. I eventually got hold of Ron – since when was he working there – he said you had the evening off."

"Whoa, slow down. We had a major incident and I was out of the office until yesterday evening. Then, because I hadn't slept, I stayed on Diagon Alley." Hermione tried to explain, not wanting to tell him the full truth.

"Why didn't you come home?" Dean's temper hadn't mellowed.

"I was too tired to apparate, it was just easier all around."

"Why didn't you tell me that Ron was working for you, I thought you hated him."

"I do, but he's a good auror and I need extra man power at the moment. He's only been there for there for a couple of days." When Hermione and Dean first started dating he was very jealous of her relationship with Ron. It calmed the longer Ron was away, but now that he knew they were close together again it was difficult for him.

"You should have sent me an owl or something, just to let me know your o.k." Dean said in a slightly lower tone.

"I'm sorry, it will never happen again. How have the twins been?" Hermione wanted to change the subject as quickly as possible.

"Horrendous, they think that because you're away the can create havoc." Dean demeanour softened.

"They would do it even if I was here." Hermione laughed, glad to be back home. She needed to get Ron out of her thoughts.


	6. A little deeper

It was late at night and Hermione had been swamped in the office ever since the death of Draco Malfoy. The reverberations were still being felt around the Ministry from the news that it had been Ernie McMillan who had done the deed, as it were. Hermione had the arours working on 12 hour rotations in an effort to find him. So far it had been to no luck; Ernie was still free and roaming. The news had not escaped past the ministry walls, however; the Prophet reported the death as a nasty accident. Malfoy's wife was none the wiser after she had been obliviated and was distinctly surprised to find out that she had a son; especially as she was under the impression she was only 16 years old.

Hermione was taking a short moment to herself so she could read a letter from her daughter Millie, who was in her first year of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Her quiet moment was ruined by Ron stumbling in to her office. Working with Ron so closely resurfaced the emotions she had developed for him over their time at Hogwarts.

"Hey 'Mione." She loved it when he called her that. "There are some reports that muggles saw an explosion; I don't think it was a muggle explosion."

"Alright let's go. It's probably some stupid kids play tricks; that's all we need at this time. Brats with nothing better to do with their time." Hermione grabbed her wand and coat, before leaving with Ron. Unfortunately for Hermione it wasn't kids with nothing better to do with their time. She walked in on a scene of devastation.

"Hermione in here, it's Pansy Parkinson! She's er dead." Ron was white as a sheet.

"God damn it Ernie; haven't you had enough?" Hermione muttered under her breath. Pansy was lying on her front; she had been hit as she was running away. Walking through in to the kitchen was more than Hermione could take; she almost burst in to tears when she saw Pansy's husband and children in a lifeless heap on the floor.

"I can't believe Ernie would do this, he was such a nice guy at school." Ron said leaning against the wall stunned.

"Well you better believe it; it's amazing what grief can do to a man. Can you get the rest of the office here; I am going to ring Dean and tell him I'm not going to be home tonight."

It was hours later before Hermione even sat down. The new crime scene told them a lot more and gave them an idea as to who was being targeted. Hermione had drawn up a list of possible targets and had sent out aurors to get them and their families to safety.

"Hermione come on you need to go home and get to sleep." Harry stood in front of her with his arms crossed.

"I can't, I need to find Ernie. We've managed to keep the magic world safe and I don't want it to be my fault that everyone descends in to panic again." She was shuffling through the papers on her desk.

"Look, 'Mione I have arours, arours who've had some sleep, stationed at all of the houses and Ernie's house. You will know straight away if there are any sightings of Ernie, ok." Harry looked at her hopefully.

"Ok fine, you have your wish I'm going to bed." Hermione couldn't believe what she did next, but she found herself knocking on Ron's front door.

"Hermione what are you doing here?" Ron was rubbing his eyes, she had just woke him up. Obviously, he had only gone home a hour ago.

"I don't know; I'm sorry you were sleeping. I'll go now you need rest." Hermione turned to walk away, but Ron grabbed her arm.

"No come inside."

"I'm so sorry, I just didn't want to answer the questions at home, Dean just won't stop asking about the case. I just needed some where to sleep."

"Of course, you take my bed and I'll sleep on the couch."

"No Ron you're not sleeping on that! Come sleep in the bed." Hermione grabbed his hand. "I need your arms around me right now. Where's Lavender?" Hermione just remembered that Ron had a wife.

"She left me, she ran off with some guys she met at the spa."

"I'm so sorry to hear that." Hermione said not all that surprised that it had happened eventually, Lavender was not one for stability. Hermione slowly fell asleep in the warmth of Ron's arms; the next thing she knew she was waking up to the smell of bacon. Ron was standing next to her with a plate on top of which was a sandwich. She devoured it in seconds; she didn't realise, but she hadn't eaten in two days.

"Thank you Ron for all of this, I appreciate it so much." She suddenly lost control of all her senses and found herself pulling Ron in for a kiss. Oh how she missed this, running her fingers through his messy hair, running her tongue along his lips. It was Ron that pulled away, eventually, breathing deeply. "Sorry, I don't know what came over me then."

"It's ok." Ron grinned sheepishly. "Before you go I need to tell you something. I wanted to tell you ages ago, but it's been so busy with Ernie giving us loads of work to do. Don't get mad, but I found Jacob. I'm going to send him an owl." Ron looked really pleased with himself, but Hermione's mood couldn't be any more different.

"You did what? You selfish little bastard; I thought I told you to stay away from him I didn't want to go back there." Hermione slapped him hard across the face and left for her house. She needed to see Dean right now.

She apparated to her front door; it was dark now she couldn't believe she slept all afternoon. The kids would be asleep, but hopefully Dean would still be awake. She was right and Dean was sat listening to the wireless on the couch.

"Hermione you're home." He smiled at her.

"I'm so sorry I've been so busy at work, but I have a few hours off and I want to make up all this time away up to you." She walked straight over to where he was sat and slid on to his lap.

"I don't know I think you're going to have to work hard to make it up. I mean you've been at work an awful lot."

"Well I'm just going to have to pull out some tricks then; aren't I?" She grinned devilishly.

"Tricks since when did you know tricks?" Dean giggled.

"I've been in the library." Hermione landed a passionate kiss right on Dean's lips. She couldn't believe how stupid she had been to kiss Ron. There was no future with him, Dean was her future.


	7. Meet Jacob

Dean's face was full of rage, "Hermione if you leave this house I'm not going to speak to you again."

"Dean I can't do this right now; I have to go to work." Hermione was half in and out of the front door.

"Hermione we have barely spoken in the past month; you just keep leaving me to pick up the pieces. I cannot deal with this anymore you need to start thinking about your family."

"I do think about my family all the time. You don't realise what it does to me spending all this time away from you and the kids. I'm sorry if I'm concerned about the entire magical civilisation maybe you should find some things to focus on." With that Hermione left the house and stormed straight to work.

Hermione was sat in her office rummaging through the piles of evidence that had been gathered during the Ernie McMillan case. There had been no new leads since Pansy Parkinson had been found dead. Hermione didn't care now she just wanted to find Ernie before he killed someone else.

She had been extremely stressed for the past two months with everything had been going on. Ron had been at her to meet Jacob for three weeks now and her patience was wearing thin. Her marriage was struggling with all the time she was spending at the office and meeting up with Ron.

Lost in her thoughts Hermione jumped at the sound of someone knocking at the door.

"Come in." She shouted without even looking up from the pile of papers. The door closed, but Hermione was concentrating so hard on trying to find a small clue in this case she didn't glance at the person in the room until they spoke.

"Hermione, I am so sorry for what I said this morning." Hermione still didn't look up as she could feel the tears welling up in her eyes. "Hermione please look at me."

"Dean I shouldn't have said what I did this morning; you didn't deserve any of it."

"I know but I shouldn't have started it. Look I want to make it up to you with Lunch." Dean smiled in hope.

"I'm really sorry Dean, but I can't I have so much work to do." Hermione indicated towards her desk.

"I thought you might say that so I brought a packed lunch with your favourite smoked salmon." Dean began to unpack the lunch he had spent all morning making.

"Dean this is lovely, you really didn't have to do this." Hermione leaned over her desk and kissed him. "I love you; you know that. I'm so sorry I've been busy at work, but it will all change once this case is over. "

"Right I'll leave you to do your work." Dean said as he kissed Hermione and made for the door.

"Dean you don't have to leave right away do you?"

"No." He answered looking at his wife curiously; she said nothing and just pulled him towards her. They hadn't had sex since the day she kissed Ron as both of them had been far too tired even if they did have any time to. Dean had Hermione sitting on her desk and moaning in to his neck, it had been a long time since he'd felt this good. It took all of Hermione's strength to stop herself from groaning out aloud. It made it all the better knowing that her colleagues were outside; she wanted Ron to walk in so that he knew how much she didn't want him.

"Dean I just want to go home with you right now." Hermione said redressing herself.

"I wish you could, but you're the boss and you're needed here."

Hermione sat back down at her desk, it took about ten minutes before she could get her mind to focus on the work she needed to do. Through the pile of stuff on her desk she found an unopened letter from her parents asking her to come and visit them for dinner sometime with the kids.

It wasn't only Dean and the kids she had neglected over the past two months, she hadn't seen her parents in the longest time. She missed them a great deal and in normal circumstances she would see them at least once a month.

"Hermione, I really need to talk to you." Ron popped his head around her office door.

"Well come in then." She said impatiently.

"Well you know I said I spoke to Jacob well I am going to see him tonight and I told him you were coming to see him."

"Close the door." Ron was confused by the reaction, but he did what she said nonetheless. "Why the fuck did you do that, I told you not to even speak to him and now you tell him I'm coming to see him without even asking me about it." Hermione screamed as soon as the door was closed.

"Hermione you need to see him, you can't just avoid him for the rest of your life."

"Yes I bloody well can, I can't see him. He just brings up so many bad memories for me. You might not accept this, but I was left to sort everything out when you just fucked of to Romania and left me behind." Tears were now streaming from her eyes.

"I told you I'm sorry for that but you just can't ignore him. Please come with me you'll break his heart if you don't."

"Get out of my office before I punch you in the head. You are not going to guilt trip me in to this you have no moral high ground in this situation." Ron had never moved so quickly in his life. Hermione was left alone in her office, her face was red with anger, and she began to move things around her desk with force.

Five hours later Hermione couldn't believe that Ron had convinced her to go with him. This was ridiculous, why would he want to see her anyway after what she did.

"Ron we are only spending half an hour there at the most and then we have to leave ok." She could feel her stomach doing summersaults.

"Whatever you want; I'm just happy you're coming." Ron was smiling from ear to ear.

"Ron I can't do it I have to go." Hermione turned around to leave as they reached the top of the drive, but before she could take a step Ron grabbed her wrist.

"Yes you can." She wrapped her hand around Ron's, she felt much safer that way. Hermione thought her heart was going to burst as the front door opened.

"Hermione meet our son Jacob."


	8. An unexpected surprise

Hermione stood tentatively next to Ron, she didn't know what the etiquette was when you were introduced to the son you'd put up for adoption fifteen years ago.

"Hermione give him a hug for God's sake." Ron whispered in to her ear. Snapping out of her slight trance and walked over to Jacob to hug him. She couldn't believe how much he looked like Ron with his messy ginger hair and freckly face.

"I can't believe how grown up you look." Hermione had stopped trying to hold back her tears as the now flowed freely down her face.

"My mum has gone out so you guys can come inside and we can talk there." Hermione didn't think it would hurt, but it did, hearing him call somebody else mum. She looked around the hallway and living room as she made her way to a seat. This was definitely not a magic house, it reminded her of hers when she was growing up.

"Would you like something to drink?" Jacob asked when they were both inside.

"A glass of water would be nice." Hermione's throat felt so dry.

"Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you he doesn't know he's a wizard. So best not ask him about it might surprise him a bit." Ron said in a low voice standing close behind her once Jacob had left the room.

"What! How can he not know?" Hermione spun around and almost collided with Ron.

"His parents just decided not to tell him. They didn't want him leaving for the magical world."

"Sounds kind of similar to Harry."

"At least they haven't locked him in a cupboard under the stairs." Ron laughed.

"He should know he's a wizard; he could be great with me and you as parents."

"You think I'm great?" Ron beamed.

"I never said that." Hermione pushed Ron away playfully.

"Anyway it's not our right to tell him so just leave it for now ok." Ron shut up when he saw Jacob coming back in to the room carrying three glasses of water. There were a few moments of uncomfortable silence before Hermione decided to break it.

"So how is school?" Ron just tutted at the question he just knew that the first question from Hermione would be about studying. "Oh shut up Ron." Jacob just sat there slightly bemused.

"Well school is going ok I am in my second year of GCSEs so we are getting a lot of work. I've got to choose what I want to do for my A levels soon as well."

"What does GCSEs mean?" Ron leant over towards Hermione.

"I'll explain later." Hermione pushed him back to his original position. "Sounds great, do you have a girlfriend or you know whatever?"

"I'm not gay and yeah I do have a girlfriend." Jacob laughed uncomfortably. "Erm, do you mind if I ask you a few questions about my adoption? It's just I've been wondering about it for a while."

"No ask ahead." Hermione sat up quite straight right now.

"Well I wanted to know, to be quite honest, why I was adopted." Hermione just stared at Ron until he got the hint that it was his job to answer this question.

"I suppose I'll take this one then," Ron piped up. "You see your mother and I had been together for a while and we were quite young. We were engaged and she was pregnant with you, but I got cold feet and ran off to Romania with my brother. She didn't have the means to bring you up on your own so the best option was to put you up for adoption. So basically it was my fault, if it could have been avoided we would never have done it. I was young and stupid and I have wished every day I could go back and change things."

"I am sorry that happens every so often I'm not really sure what makes it happen." Jacob said trying to compose himself.

"Don't worry about it actually there is something I want to tell you..." Hermione wasn't able to finish her sentence before Ron gripped her leg quite tightly. She took this as her sign to stop talking.

"Oh crap my mum is home, you're going to have to go out the back door. I haven't told her that I have spoken to you guys. It would break her heart if he found out; my dad died a couple of years ago so I'm all she has." He hurried Ron and Hermione towards the back door. "The side gate is open you can go there and wait until he comes in to the house. The pair snuck down the side of the house trying to escape without Jacob's mother seeing them.

"Is she in the house?" Ron asked as Hermione was nearest the end of the passage.

"I don't know I can't see." Ron squeezed himself between Hermione and the fence to get a good look at the front door.

"She's gone in now." Ron turned and realised how close he was now to Hermione; they stood staring at each other until Ron got a startling realisation. "You know we just got a bit carried away with this sneaking around business, we could have just apparated once we got outside." Hermione didn't get a chance to respond when Ron apparated both of them to his house.

"Ron why did you do that, I wanted to go home not here." Hermione huffed.

"Well you can go home from here if you want." Ron took two steps towards Hermione so his body was now touching hers. He could feel her breath getting heavier as he moved his head towards hers.

Everything in Hermione's brain was telling her to get the hell away from here, but her feet just wouldn't move. Ron brought his lips close enough to feel her breath on them, but stopped there. Hermione couldn't bare this; she needed Ron now. She grabbed the front of his shirt and kissed him they way she had wanted to since she'd bumped in to him in Diagon Alley.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Ron asked as he sat back on to the coach. Hermione said nothing but bent down to continue kissing Ron. As much as she hated him for what he did to her she had never stopped loving him. She had been restraining herself for the past few months and her resolve had completely fallen to pieces.

They were soon lying on the floor in front of the fire Ron had lit. His arms were wrapped tightly around Hermione's waist; he couldn't believe she had even let him touch her in that way let alone do what she did.

"Hermione, I still love you." Ron leant over to give Hermione a long lingering kiss.

"I love you too." She ran her hands through his hair.

"Cynthia, go to your room now." Hermione and Ron jumped up at the odd interruption to their romantic clinch. "Ron I can't believe I have been gone for a month and you have jumped in to bed with Hermione. Not even bed, in the living room where our daughter can see."

Hermione grabbed her clothes off the floor to cover herself up. She was so embarrassed as she legged it in to the kitchen to dress herself while Ron and Lavender were arguing. "I have to go home and make dinner for my kids they haven't seen me in a while." She popped hear head around the kitchen door and apparated away before anyone had the chance to say anything to her.


	9. I want my happy ending

Hermione couldn't bring herself to go home she just wasn't able to look Dean in the face after what she'd done. She couldn't believe that she had fallen for Ron again and harder than she had been admitting to herself.

Hermione had been telling herself it was just the flattery, but seeing Ron after all the years she'd spent burying them, she had found them again.

Instead of going home, Hermione found herself heading towards her parents' house even though it was several miles away and she could easily apparate. She wanted the fresh air to help clear her head so she could make a decision. After two hours of walking, Hermione eventually arrived outside her parents' house.

"My God, Hermione, you look terrible!" Her father said upon opening the door.

"Thanks dad you always knew how to make a girl feel good." Hermione felt instantly better after seeing her parents.

"Hermione, are you ok? Go get her something to drink Eric." Her mother was looking at her funnily. "Come in dear and sit down. What has happened? What are you doing here?"

Hermione sat there for a few moments trying to figure out how to tell her parents that she'd cheated on her husband. She always told her parents everything and they were her first port of call when she needed advice. "I think I might have just ruined my marriage." She said bluntly; it was the only way she could figure out how to say it.

"What do you mean?." Her mum put her arm around Hermione.

"Promise you won't judge me?" If she was her parents she would judge her, in fact she was judging herself right now.

"Were your parents we'll never judge you." Her mum reassuringly squeezed her hand.

"Ok, well Ron has come back to England and he is now working in my department. We have been spending a lot of time together and we went to see Jacob." Hermione checked her parents for their reactions, but they were just caring. "Last night me and Ron, well you know, made love." Hermione couldn't bring herself to say had sex in front of her parents.

"Oh dear Hermione what have you done." Her mother hugged her. "Does Dean know?"

"No, but Lavender does, so I doubt it will be long before she does."

"Well you need to go home and make sure things don't go too far. You have to think about your children." Her dad looked her right in the eyes.

"Can't I just stay here for the night so I can figure out what I'm going to do?"

"No you need to go back to the house. If Dean is going to find out then it needs to be from you; you should at least give him that." Her dad replied.

"Ok thank you." She stood up to head toward the door.

"You're going right away? We've barely seen you these past couple of months." Her mum followed her to the door.

"Well there's no time like the present. If I'm going to ruin my life I may as well do it now."

"Don't think I am being too harsh darling, I just want you to be able to fix things as quick as possible." Hermione hugged her parents and apparated straight to her home. She stood outside the front door for a few moments composing herself before she walked in.

"Hi mum!" Her twins Felix and Juan were running around the living room, but ran over and hugged her once they saw her. "Where have you been, we missed you mummy." Felix had his arms wrapped around her leg staring her right in the eyes.

"I'm so sorry, I've been working loads, but Mummy promises to be with you a whole lot more from now on ok." She bent down and kissed the both on the head. "Where is your dad?"

"He's in the garden." Juan pointed to a sleeping figure slumped on a deck chair.

"He looks very relaxed I think I might leave him there for until he wakes up." She wasn't sure what she was going to do about this, but she went upstairs to sit down and think about it. She could hear the children running around again, normally it would annoy her but instead she found it relaxing. It was the sound of Dean's footsteps coming up the stairs a couple of hours later that sent her heart racing.

"Ok Hermione you can do this just tell him." She began to psych herself up.

"Hermione where have you been all day, this is beginning to get ridiculous I hardly see you at all." Dean said as he walked in to the room.

"Dean, we really need to talk." Hermione began to stare at the floor. "Erm... I." She couldn't quite find the right words. "I slept with Ronald."

"Sorry, I'm not sure I heard you correctly." Dean hoped he had heard his wife wrong, but he didn't think he had.

"I slept with Ronald. You see the thing is I love him and I really want to be with him." Hermione began to cry.

"You what? Are you actually kidding me; you cheated on me with the guy who pissed off to Romania and left you on your own and pregnant. I can't believe this!"

"Dean, please don't shout; I don't want the kids to get worried." Hermione put her hand on Dean's shoulder which he quickly brushed it off.

"Don't you dare tell me what to do. You have no bloody right!" He started to pace up and down the room. "Don't you even dare." His face began to go red.

"I'm going to go now, I think its best." Hermione walked to the wardrobe and took out two giant suitcases which she had already packed.

"What are you doing?" Dean was staring at the suitcases.

"I'm moving to Ron's and I'm going to take the children." She began to head towards the bedroom door.

"Hermione you can't do that; he's going to leave you again. You do know that. I spent all these years looking after you and being a good husband." Dean shouted angrily, but she could see the tears in his eyes which only made her cry more.

"Dean don't make this any more difficult than it already is. I love Ron I always have I just never thought he would come back. I'm so sorry please just let me go." She turned quickly and nearly collided with the door partially blinded by the tears in her eyes.

"Well you to deserve each other, but you are not taking the kids." Dean stormed down the stairs after her.

"Yes I am." She handed the twins one of the suitcases. "Boy's make sure you hold on to this. Now Dean I am going to stay with Ron and I am taking the twins so just let me leave. You will see them; I just want to get away for a few days." Without any warning Juan and Felix disappeared along with their suitcase.

"That is not fair you can't use a portkey like that." Dean didn't know what to do; his kids had just vanished in to thin air and he didn't know how to get them back.

"Dean, I'll bring them back in a couple of days I just want to spend some time with them ok. You know you wouldn't have let me see them if they stayed here with you."

"You can't just leave me like this Hermione we should at least talk about this."

"No we can't, I'm so sorry Dean I've made my decision. I love you so much and don't you forget that. All this doesn't mean I've stopped loving you, but I need Ron and I always have. Hermione apparated to Ron's front door, where her children were waiting for her with their suitcase.

"Mummy what is happening, why are we here?" Felix was trying to stand the suitcase back up which must have fallen over during the travel.

"We are going to stay with a friend for a while your dad is doing some work in the house. So we are going to stay here until its finished ok." Hermione was about to knock on the door when it few open with Ron standing on the other side.

"What are you doing here?" Ron looking confused by his greeting committee.

"Ron, I left Dean."

"Really?" He asked as they went through the door.

"Kids, there is a room up by the bathroom. I'll bring your case upstairs and you make yourself feel comfortable." Hermione brought the case in to the room, kissed the kids on the head and immediately went back down stairs.

"Ron I want to be with you, I love you too much."

"Hermione I love you too, but this is all a very big surprise I wasn't expecting this."

"Oh, do you want me to go?" Hermione took a few steps back away from Ron.

"No don't go I'm just saying it is all a big surprise. I'm glad you came I have wanted you back so badly." He slid his arms around her waist and pulled her in for a kiss. Hermione couldn't believe how happy she was and was even more surprised by the person who was making her happy.

"Just so you know if you leave me again I will hunt you down!" They both laughed, but underneath Hermione was still filled with the worry that he might get cold feet again.


	10. Everything falls in to place

It was 6:30 in the morning and Hermione was awake, but she didn't care she was lying with Ron's arms wrapped around her. It had only been one night since she had left Dean for Ron and the way she had gone about it was playing on her mind.

She felt horrible about the way she dealt with the situation and could see Dean's upset and angry face. This image ruined the perfection of lying so close to Ron, to be honest she couldn't be the one who complained all of this was her fault. She wished she could start things all over again and deal with it like the proper human being she was supposed to be.

Lost in her thoughts she didn't notice time slip past and almost fell out of bed when she heard Ron's alarm go. True to himself Ron didn't even budge forcing her to climb across him to stop the annoying screeching noise coming from the device.

"Hermione, I thought you didn't like the whole morning quickie thing." Ron said, moving underneath her body.

"Oh shut up Ronald I was just turning of your stupid alarm. Can you not change the tone to something a little less annoying?" Hermione walked over to her suitcase which lay untouched on the floor in the corner of the room.

"I need something really annoying to wake me up. You know I don't wake easily so there needs to be something to get me up."

"Well I'm here now so you can wake up to me and not that stupid noise!" Ron raised his eyebrows to that comment. "Don't be so disgusting!"

"I'm sorry Mione I just can't believe my luck that you're actually here, although, you probably could have given me a little more warning. What would you have done if Lavender has still been here?" Ron finally managed to push himself up in to a sitting position.

"I didn't really think about that to be honest I just knew that I couldn't do the sneaking around anymore. I wanted to be with you in a proper relationship." Ron walked over to her and began to kiss her tenderly. "Now, how about a shower?" Hermione said with a cheeky grin.

The decided to grab some food from a local breakfast shop and eat in the park before going to work where they would have to disguise their relationship for now.

"Do you know, I have worked at the Ministry for eight years and I have never just sat in this park. I've walked through it a lot, but never just sat in it." Hermione said looking around; this was the first time he had felt relaxed in a long time.

"Well there is always a first for everything, including you forgiving me." Ron grinned, pulling Hermione in for a much needed kiss. He felt like a teenage again; it felt like the day he first realised he like Hermione. He had that feeling in his stomach that he never wanted to go away ever again. People had started to look at them kissing, but he didn't care he had finally managed to get the woman he wanted, again.

Ron and Hermione walked through the ministry of magic after having breakfast in the park. They held hands until they reached to door to the auror's office where they parted so they wouldn't bring too many questions upon themselves.

"Morning Hermione, all of your owls are on your desk." Her secretary told her.

"Thank you very much Felicity; would you mind getting me some pumpkin juice I feel a little headache coming on."

"Erm... also your husband is in there and I think he might be a little angry. He didn't say why though." Hermione's smile faltered when she heard this news and it completely disappeared when she saw Ron heading in to her office.

"I'm just going to get the Ernie McMillan case files from the office. Justin thinks there might be some new info on it." Ron said as he opened the office door. No sooner had he stepped in to the office did he fall back out again flat on the floor with a bloody nose.

"Oh my God." Felicity shrieked.

"Felicity, would you mind getting the first aid kit from the cupboard?" Hermione tried to keep her cool as much as possible as she ran over to the spot where Ron lay on the floor.

"Dean you didn't have to do that! This is nothing to do with him just leave him out of it."

"This has everything to do with him. If he hadn't come swanning back from Romania and charmed you out of your skirt I would still have a marriage and we would be here. So this has everything to do with him." Dean spat with anger.

"Ron, go to Felicity and get cleaned up." Hermione said to Ron who had managed to get off the floor. Dean motioned to go after him, but Hermione pushed him back in to her office. "We are going to talk this out ok."

"Hermione, I want you back we can work through this mess. I am sure I can forgive you eventually; maybe we could go to couple's counselling. I love you so much it hurts."

"I love you to, but I really do want to be with Ron. In time I hope you can forgive me though and we can be friends."

"I don't know if that will happen I'm not sure we could just be friends." Dean sat back on to the edge of Hermione's desk.

"I hope you can, but I don't expect it straight away." Hermione was shuffling from foot to foot.

"Where are the boys if both of you are here?" Dean's anger was rising again after the rejection from Hermione.

"They are at my parent's house."

"Well I am taking them back, if you're not going to try and make this marriage work. You're not fit to be a mother to them anyway with all the time you spend at work." Hermione could feel a sickness in the pit of her stomach after that comment.

"How dare you say that, I am a fit mother. Especially after you spent so much time away pursuing your football career when they were young." Hermione's voce echoed around the small room.

"That is completely different. I am going to your parent's house and they are coming back with me." Hermione ran after him towards the fireplace at the corner of the department. Dean vanished with a flash of green flames; but Hermione was interrupted as she was stepping in to the fireplace.

"Hermione, Blaise Zabini has been taken by Ernie McMillan. We think we know where they are, but we need to go now." Hannah Abbott tapped her on the shoulder.

"Right ok fill me in on the details." Damn Ernie McMillan she wasn't sure if they found him that she wouldn't just kill him herself at this stage. Hannah had intercepted transmissions from the muggle police force. It turns out Ernie had taken him in desperation in a muggle shop. He had tried to escape, but some of the customers had tried to stop him so he had taken them hostage.

It hadn't taken them long to find the shop as there were so many police and muggles surrounding it.

"Ok, we are taking over this scene now. You need to get the public as far away as possible." Hermione said walking over to the officer in charge.

"Who are you?" He said looking her up and down.

"I'm in charge now, this is a very dangerous criminal and that is all you need to know. So if you wouldn't mind getting these people as far away as possible for their own safety." The officer was so stunned by what was going on, he just nodded and did what he was told.

"You still have that whole bossy thing going on." Ron said laughing from behind. He had caught up with them once he had been cleaned up by Felicity.

"Just be glad we're in a serious situation or you'd be getting a smack." Hermione couldn't help but laugh. Hermione put her serious face back on once she noticed the rest of the aurors were surrounding them. "Ok I need everyone to go to each exit of this building and try to get in without Ernie noticing. Ron and I will take the front door and try to convince Ernie to give this one up without a fight."

Hermione made her way toward the front door of the shop with Ron following close behind. She could feel her heart beating hard in her chest; it had been a long time since she had been in a situation like this.

"Ok, wish me luck," she said kissing Ron before knocking on the front door. "Ernie, its Hermione. I think we should talk."


	11. BANG and everything changes

"Ernie, its Hermione. I think we should talk." She said knocking on the front door.

"Hermione, go away I don't want you to get involved in this. I don't want anyone to get hurt I just want Zabini to pay for what he did during the war." She heard a shouted reply coming from inside.

"Look can I just come in and then maybe we can come to some arrangement." She began to open the door slowly. "Maybe we could let the muggles free first they have nothing to do with any of this." She was now stood in the doorway with Ron to her left hidden behind a poster in the window.

"You can let them out, but I am keeping Zabini here." Hermione could see the fear in Zabini's eyes. She had never seen this before in all the time she had known him.

"Ok everyone out quickly through the front door." It took a couple of seconds for the muggles to start moving; they didn't really look like they believe what was happening. Once the muggles had gone she closed the door with her and Ron inside the shop.

"What's he doing here too?" Ernie glared at Ron.

"I just want to make sure you get out of this whole thing ok." Ron finally spoke. "We went through a lot in school and I just want to see that you're good."

"Look I think the best way to end this is to just let me go with Zabini and no one else will have to get hurt."

"I don't think we can do that Ernie, I don't want anyone to get hurt. Not even Blaise, I know that might come as a surprise but I don't want Blaise to get hurt either." Hermione started to move towards Ernie who suddenly stood up and pointed his wand towards her.

"Don't take a single step further, just because we used to be friends in school, doesn't mean I won't hurt you. I am not going to let this ass get away with the murders he committed during the war. He thinks just because he said sorry that everything's fine now, but I lost my whole family. I have nothing to live for anymore just this." He turned to face Blaise Zabini who had managed to reach his own wand, which was on the floor, and now had it in Ernie's face.

"Think again McMillan." Zabini said slowly and deliberately. "Put the wand down."

"I'm not afraid of you. You spent your whole life putting people in fear, but I am not scared..." Before Ernie could finish his sentence a spell was flying at him from Zabini's wand. He managed to dodge it, but it flew across the room hitting the fish bowl next to Ron and causing it to explode in his face.

Without any notice there were spell flying everywhere and it ended almost as soon as it had began. Justin had Ernie trapped in a binding curse and he was taking him out of the shop. Blaise Zabini was also taken for questioning by Hannah. In the sudden uproar of chaos Hermione hadn't notice that Ron was still lying on the floor.

"Oh my God, Ron." She ran over to his slumped body. "Please be still alive, please be still alive." She said trying to find his pulse. A few excruciating moments later Hermione felt Ron's pulse beating in his neck. "Angelina, send a message to St Mungo's we have an auror down."

"Who's down?" She looked over to Hermione who was slumped on the floor.

"It doesn't matter just get a message as soon as possible." Hermione shrieked as she tried to get Ron in to a sitting position. "This cannot be happening right now." Minutes later she was sat next to his bed in St Mungo's.

"Hi, Mrs Weasley?" The doctor poked her head around the curtains that surrounded the bed.

"Oh no, I'm not his wife." Hermione looked down at her shoes. "I'm his boss."

"Right ok, well I'm afraid I need to tell his wife first about his situation before I can give it to anyone else."

"He doesn't have a wife; look I think it would be best just to tell me what's wrong. I'm his best friend too." Hermione could feel the tears welling up in her eyes.

"Well he has been hit by the killing curse, but luckily it seems to have been diluted by something along the way. He should be awake in the next few days, but we are not sure what the long term side effects will be."

"But he's going to be ok." Hermione asked in hope.

"Ok as you can be after being hit by the killing curse. We will keep a firm eye on him don't you worry; we have the best nurses and doctors on the case. We are going to run some tests on him now to see if there is any damage to his brain. It might be best if you go home and rest as these could take a long time." The doctor smiled at her sweetly.

"I think I will stay here and wait."

"Miss, if you tell me where you live I can send you an owl as soon as there is any news."

"I'm going to go back to work. I work in the auror office in the Ministry; even if there is the smallest piece of news you send me that owl!" Hermione picked up her stuff and headed to the office. She couldn't believe that this day had ended up like this, she thought the incident with Dean was going to be their biggest problem.

She almost walked in to the door outside the department with her mind so focused on Ron. Still there was a report to do and there was no way she could go home while Ron was in the hospital. She needed to keep her mind occupied or she would go crazy. Hermione was about to go in to her office when she heard a noise; she looked up to find Lavender walking in to the office.

"This cannot be happening to me today, haven't you done enough?" She said looking up to the ceiling.

"Where is Ron, I have been looking for him everywhere and I can't find him." She stomped right up to where Hermione was standing.

"He is busy with some work and he won't be in the office for a couple of days."

"Where is he working? I'm his wife and I deserve to know."

"You're only his wife because he hasn't had time to divorce you yet. You left him for some greased up muscle man and you expect him to take you back?" Hermione wanted this wench out of her department immediately.

"He ran away from you and married me, I'm not worried about anything. He will come back to me and I will find out where he is." Lavender moved right up towards Hermione's face.

"You better leave here right now or else!"

"Or else what?" Lavender didn't budge an inch.

"Or else this." Hermione didn't know what possessed her, possibly the stress she had built up today, but she punched lavender right in the face. "Now leave me and Ron alone." Hermione walked in to her office and slumped on her chair. This was a bad day, not the worst, but a very bad day nonetheless.

Once she had the report written she wanted to go and see Ernie; she wanted to talk to him before he had to go in to questioning.

"Ernie, hi. How are they treating you?" She smiled as she sat down on the opposite side of the protective force field.

"Yes they are treating me fine." Ernie seemed quite chipper despite what was going on. "How is Ron doing?"

"He is unconscious at the moment, but I'm hoping he will pull through." Hermione wasn't sure where to go from here. "Ernie, what happened to you what made you do all of this?"

"Hermione you don't understand; I lost everyone in the war. I had to make them pay."

"But it didn't have to come to this. They did their time after the war and I really believe some of them were truly sorry."

"Them being sorry doesn't bring my family back. I'm sorry Hermione but this had to happen; I'm only sorry that Ron got hurt in all of this." Ernie got back out of his seat. "I want to go back to my cell." He looked at the guard standing by the door. "I'm sorry Hermione." He left with no other words.

A/N that you for sticking with me this far and I will be postinf a new chapter very soon. It's all going to get very interesting very soon! Please review with good and bad I want to make this as good as I can.


	12. I can't believe this is happening to me

Hermione could feel her eyes drooping heavily, she had been up for 72 hours, and she was trying her best to fight the impending sleep. Ron was still unconscious after being hit by the avada kedavra when it hit a vase of water and exploded in his face.

It had been three weeks since the accident and the doctor still didn't know if he would have some long term brain damage.

"Hermione, you really need to go home." Jacob, who had been helping Hermione look after Ron, came in to the room with a large glass of water for her.

"I can't, I want to be awake if Ron wakes up. I don't want him to be confused about where he is." Hermione let out a big yawn.

"Look, I am going to stay here. You could at least go to the family room you don't have to go home, but it would be good to go and see your children I'm sure they miss you."

"Ok, but make sure you tell me if anything changes. Does your mother know that you're here?" Hermione asked before she left.

"I have told her that I am studying with a friend for my exams, so she thinks I am revising at his house."

"Well perhaps it couldn't be a complete lie and you can use this time to study. Ron isn't exactly riveting conversation right now so you won't have to worry about any distractions." Hermione smiled for the first time in days.

"You sound like my mum; I suppose a little revision could be good as I have an exam tomorrow." Jacob pulled out some heavy looking books from his bag.

"You have an exam tomorrow? Why didn't you tell me, you really must revise. I could never forgive myself if you didn't do well in your exams because of me and Ron."

"Don't worry about it Hermione, I have been revising at home too." Jacob laughed at Hermione's sudden outburst.

"Ok, remember tell me if anything changes please." Hermione walked over to Jacob to give him a hug.

"Like I said don't worry, I will inform you as soon as I know anything. Now go home and get some sleep before you pass out." Hermione smiled and walked to the nearest safe apparating zone and went to her house so she could see her children who were staying with Dean. She made sure Dean was out before she hugged Ginny, who had been looking after the children while she was at the hospital, went to check on the children, who were playing in their room, and going to sleep. It had been months since Hermione had actually had more than one night's sleep in a row. She felt bad about how much she had been working and how little she had seen her children. The only thing that had kept her going was Ron and the letters she got from Millie, who was coming home soon.

As soon as her head hit the pillow she fell asleep, she hadn't been this tired since the war with Voldemort. After almost twelve hours sleep she was woken up to her front door slamming closed.

She shot up and grabbed her wand from the bedside table as she did so. Before going down stars she checked on the children to make sure they were ok. Creeping downstairs she saw Dean wandering around the living room so she lowered her wand.

"Couldn't you close the door a little quieter?"Hermione said impatiently. "I was sleeping and so are the children."

"I need to talk to you." He said handing her an envelope.

"What about, couldn't it have waited until the morning?" She said rubbing her eyes.

"These are our divorce papers, you need to sign them and send them to my lawyer and possibly get your own. It also says that the children are going to stay with me while we are finalising the divorce." Hermione stood there motionless for a few moments before she could get the strength to talk.

"You can't take the children, this is their home and I am their mother they should stay with me."

"This is just your home now, I'm moving near my parents and they are coming with me." Dean said making his way to the stairs.

"No you bloody well aren't." Hermione moved in to his way.

"I think you'll find that if you read the papers that they are coming with me. How can you keep them here? It won't even be you looking after them anyway, you are never at home and now that Ron is in the hospital you only spend time there. I want to give them a proper life where they will actually see their family and not someone paid to look after them."

"It has just been a busy couple of months because of this Ernie thing."

"And what happens when the next thing crops up, you can't be a proper mother to them while you're always away."

"I am a proper mother to them, please don't take them away." Hermione began to cry.

"Look it's already decided, I have my stuff outside in the car packed. Now I am going upstairs to get the children and you can say good bye, which is more than you let me, and then we are going. I will send you a letter when we get there." Dean left Hermione frozen to the spot by the situation as he got the children's things together.

"Hey guys, mummy is going to come and visit you very soon. You are going to stay with daddy near granny and granddad's house." Hermione kissed Juan and Felix on the head before they walked out to the car.

"Dean I am so sorry I hurt you." Hermione wiped the tears from her eyes.

"I'm sorry too." He gave her a long kiss before saying "I love you" and leaving.

"I love you too Dean." She said quietly as she closed the door. Hermione slid down to sit on the floor with her back to the front door. She couldn't believe that this was happening; she had been such an idiot. It wasn't like she wanted Dean back she just wanted to go back to her normal life with her family. She decided to get changed and go to see Ron, because there was nothing like going to see your unconscious boyfriend to take your mind off losing your children.

As she walked towards the room Ron was staying in she walked straight in to Jacob who was walking out with his books in his hands.

"Oh my God I forgot you had your exam, I should have got here earlier."

"I'm really sorry, I tried to stop her, but I couldn't." Hermione was confused by the response until she saw Lavender walking towards her.

"This isn't good." She muttered to herself. "What are you doing..." Hermione trailed off as she saw Ron sitting up and awake.

"Ah Hermione, so you decided to visit your boyfriend then." Lavender stopped very close to Hermione.

"I have been here every day since the accident, where have you been?"

"Doesn't matter now, Ron is my husband and I am moving back in to the house."

"Like hell you are, keep away from him. He doesn't need you around." Hermione tried to push past Lavender, but she was pushed back in to the corridor.

"I think you'll find I own half of that house so I want you moved out before six this evening."

"What you can't do that too me, I want to talk to Ron now." Hermione pushed again, but failed again.

"I don't think so he has just woken up he wants to see his wife. Now you move out of my house by six this evening or WILL call the police. Now get out of here before I call security too, I don't want to see your face again."

Hermione tried to push past Lavender one more time, but this time she was pushed back so hard she fell on to the floor. She dusted herself off and ran out of St Mungo's crying this really couldn't be happening.

She collected all of her stuff and went back to the empty house that had been left by her soon to be ex-husband and children.


	13. Sorry, who are you?

Hermione found herself in her once family home on her own; it suddenly seemed so big with none of the children running around and making noise. The only things keeping her going were the thoughts of going to see Ron and the letters she had been receiving daily from her children. It had been two weeks since Lavender ad thrown her out of St Mungo's and until now she hadn't found the guts to confront her.

She decided to head to the hospital to see Ron before she went to court to provide evidence at Ernie's trial. It hadn't taken long to get the case to court considering how much evidence there was against him.

Walking down the corridors of St Mungo's Hermione spotted Lavender walking through the ward door. She had convinced herself she was able to face her, but it was a lie; Lavender still scared the crap out of her and she had done so since school. Hermione waited behind a piece of wall that stuck out until she was sure that Lavender had gone. She then ran in to the ward where Ron was sitting up in his bed.

"Oh my God, Ron you're awake." She pulled him in for a long kiss. "I'm so sorry I couldn't come earlier, but Lavender threw me out."

"I'm sorry miss, but I think you have the wrong person. You see I'm married to the lady that just left here." Ron looked back at her with a puzzled expression.

"What? I know you're still married, but we are in a relationship and you are going to leave her for me." Hermione was stunned and confused by Ron's response.

"I'm pretty sure you have the wrong person, I love that woman and I am not the type of man to cheat on my wife. At least I don't think so."

"What has she been telling you?" Hermione could feel herself getting angry.

"She has been telling me about our children and our wedding day, I so wish I could remember it all. She has gone just now to get pictures for me and our young daughter." Ron had that happy look on his face the same one he had when they had their first kiss after the war.

"Just hang on a minute I will be back." Hermione ran off to find the nearest nurse. "Excuse me do you know what is wrong with that man over there?" She said pointing over towards Ron.

"He was hit by the avada kedavra curse, but he managed to survive. He's now suffering from memory loss though. Poor chap can't even remember his own wife and children." The nurse looked over at Ron with a pitying expression.

"Right ok, do you know if he will ever get his memory back?" Hermione said with a hint of hope in her voice.

"I'm not sure, but I don't really think he will. There has been too much damage to his brain; do you know him?"

"I'm just his boss." Hermione was holding back the tears.

"Well he won't be going back to work anytime soon I can assure you of that. I'm sorry, but I have rounds to do. If you have any more questions the ward nurse should be at her desk." With that the nurse left. Hermione stood motionless for a few moments contemplating the situation she had managed to get herself into. She had left her husband of over a decade for a man who can't even remember who she is anymore. "I hate my life." Hermione said to herself before going back to Ron.

"Oh, hi again have you got everything sorted out? You know who it is your supposed to visiting."

"I'm afraid it is still you that I have come to see. I love you and you are most certainly in love with me. You might not believe me now but I will leave my name and address and you can come to see me if you remember anything." Hermione handed her a piece of paper with her details on before leaving him with the best kiss she could give him.

The dumfounded look on Ron's face made her laugh, but she couldn't get away from the fact that he couldn't remember who she was. This was going to be a long uphill struggle against Ron's memory and Lavender's pig headedness.

Suddenly Hermione realised that she was cutting it fine to make the start of Ernie's trial. It wouldn't look good on the Ministry if their first witness was late. She managed to arrive just as she was being called to the witness chair.

"Now Mrs Thomas." Hermione winced at the name it was weird being called Thomas.

"Sorry, but could you call me Miss Granger please." Hermione said timidly.

"Ok fine. Miss Granger you are the one who captured Mr Macmillan are you not?" The head of the council asked her.

"Erm... yes I am." Hermione could feel her moth getting dry; she had never had to do anything like this. The worst thing that had happened since the war was the occasional bout of exploding toilets.

"And could you explain to us what lead to that capture?"

"Well first of all we found the body of Draco Malfoy on the night of October 7th. Then we used one of our new techniques of wand detection. A lot of magic was used that night and it left a very strong residue in the air. We were able to eliminate Mr Malfoy and his wife's magic and the rest lead us to the discovery that it was Ernie's wand which had cast the killing spell within the house."

"And how does this wand detection method work?"

"Well the residue your wand produces is like your fingerprints nobody has the same one. So what we do is take a sample of the magical residue ad we run it through our Wand Residue Detection System. The WRDS then goes through the bank of samples we have from other cases and workers within the Ministry. If you remember two years ago we went around the entire ministry collecting magical samples. Ernie was once a Ministry employee so we had him in our database. Once the system found a match we went from there."

"And is there any room for error with this system of yours?"

"Nope." Hermione said proudly until she remembered who was on trial. She never thought she would have to use the system on somebody who worked in the ministry.

"OK, now could you please tell us about the capture it's self."

"Yes, we heard reports that there was a magical incident in a muggle shop. We later discovered Ernie had Blaise Zabini and some muggles held hostage in the shop. We moved in and after a brief magical fight we were able to bring him in to the Ministry."

"Right thank you Miss Granger that is all the questions we have for you." Hermione smiled and walked straight out of the room. She couldn't sit in while Ernie was being tried for murder; it already broke her heart that he had done it. She didn't need to watch while the whole thing was discussed over and over again.

This had been a bad day even by Hermione's recent standards; so she decided to make herself feel better and go to see her only child that wasn't halfway across England, Jacob. She apparated to the side alley of his house before walking around to the front door and knocking.

"Hi, who are you. I saw you just appear in the side passage." It was his mother Suzanne and Hermione had forgotten she might be in the house.


	14. Big decisions

"Oh, sorry I didn't know you would be here." Hermione said before she could stop it coming out of her mouth.

"Sorry I don't understand what you mean, who are you looking for?" Suzanne looked very confused.

"I was here to see Jacob, but it doesn't matter I'll just leave now." Hermione turned to leave.

"Who are you exactly; you're a bit too old to be one of his friends." Hermione considered leaving but thought it would be good to talk to his mum. It would hurt more if she found out about them meeting much later down the line.

"I think maybe we should talk, because there is something you need to know."

"Right ok."

"Maybe we should go inside so you can sit down." It felt strange going in to the living room without Jacob being in the house.

"Right what is it you need to tell me?" She looked really uncomfortable.

"OK, by the way you can tell me to go away and never come back after this if you want. I am Hermione Granger and I was the person who gave your son up for adoption and a few months ago my ex-partner got in contact with him. I have been meeting with him since then." Sylvia sat there stunned and in shock. "I am so sorry and if you want me to never talk to your son again then I can leave, but I would really like to get to know him better. I don't want to step on your toes though." Hermione kept blurting out more and more.

"Can you just give me a few moments I need to think this over?" Suzanne stood up and walked in to her kitchen. Hermione was left sitting there for around two hours before Suzanne came back in to the room. She had started to get worried, but thought it best not to interrupt when she was making a decision like this.

"Right, I've been thinking about it and it would be ok by me if you stayed involved in Jacob's life. I think it would be good for him to have another adult figure in his life." She sat down slowly in to the chair opposite Hermione.

"Thank you so much."

"That doesn't mean you are his mother, you just happen to have given birth to him and nothing else. I want to be there anytime you meet with him." Suzanne pointed her finger at Hermione.

"Don't worry I don't want to do anything to stand on your toes. I am so sorry that you didn't know before this and you had to find out in this way." Hermione began to babble.

"If you don't mind leaving now though, I might have agreed to let you see MY son, but I need some time. Could you just leave it a little while before you try to get in contact again?" Suzanne guided Hermione towards the door.

"Yeah sure, no problem." Hermione smiled weakly before walking to a secluded spot to apparate away. She felt really bad about what had just happened she had hoped Jacob's mum wouldn't have to find out in that way. To be honest she hadn't really thought about his mother when she got involved in this. That had been the story of her life these past few months; she hadn't really thought about anyone's feelings.

Hermione had apparated to a park near where she used to live as a child. She would play there with her friends after school every day before she went to Hogwarts. Since leaving school, Hermione had started to come here again, when things started to get a little too much for her. It reminded her of a time when things were much more simple.

"Excuse me miss, but would you mind giving me a hand." An old lady was trying to pick up the walking stick she had dropped on to the ground.

"Mrs. Duffy, is that you?" Hermione asked as she put the stick back in the woman's hand.

"Hermione Granger, my you have grown up." Mrs Duffy had been her next door neighbour. Her youngest daughter Jamie had been her best friend before Hogwarts. They had lost contact once she moved away. "How is life treating you dear?"

"Very well thank you, I have three lovely children and my oldest has just started secondary school. How are you and how is Jamie doing; it has been such a long time." Hermione helped Mrs. Duffy towards the bus she had been heading to before she dropped her walking stick.

"I am good, old, but good. Jamie is great; she moved to America a couple of years ago with her husband. They have two children and she is the head surgeon at a hospital over there."

"Wow that sounds amazing." Hermione beamed.

"Yes it is, but I do miss her something terrible. You know she is coming over in a few weeks you should come around. It's the same house from all those years ago it would be lovely to see you around." Mrs Duffy climbed on to the bus and was gone.

Hermione had a lot of time to think about what she was going to do with her life over the next few days. Her house was empty and life at work had calmed down since they captured Ernie; it was mostly paper work and exploding toilets again. The only thing keeping her going was the thought of seeing her children again when she would go to pick up Millie from the Hogwarts express.

She had finally got in contact with Dean to make sure that they would put on a united front until they told Millie about the divorce. Felix and Juan had taken to it quite quickly from what she heard from Dean, but they were young and weren't fazed easily. Hermione could feel the butterflies in her stomach fling around as she made her way to platform 9 ¾.

"Hermione, where have you been I haven't seen you in weeks." She heard Ginny's voice behind her.

"I'm so sorry, I've been kinda sorting my life out in my head; trying to think about my next step." She said before she walked through the entrance to the platform.

"You know Ron is out of Hospital and Lavender has successfully dug her claws in to him."

"I'm glad he's ok, but I would rather not even think about Lavender."

"Well that's going to be difficult, because they are both on their way with Harry right now. Remember Fred is at school too." Ginny smiled sheepishly; not long after that the three arrived through the gateway too. Ron took a few small glances towards Hermione before hugging his sister and standing on the other side of her. Next to arrive was Dean with the twins hanging on to either hand.

"Boys, oh my God I've missed you so much." Felix and Juan ran straight towards her. "How are you doing?"

"Mummy, are you going to be coming to live with us near nana and grandpa's?" Felix clung on to her tightly.

"I don't know yet, mummy and daddy will have to sort things out first." She hugged them until she heard the noise of the Hogwarts express approaching the platform. Fred and Millie came off the train chatting animatedly to each other, but ran over to their parents as soon as they saw them. For a few moments Hermione felt like things were normal again as she went home with Dean and the kids.

"Right guys, could you all go up to your rooms while we have a little chat." Dean said giving Millie a kiss on the head. "Ok let's sort things out; we need to make this as easy for the children as possible."

"I think you should keep the house with and they children should stay here. I was the one who ruined the whole thing in the first place." Hermione spoke up.

"You know that's the first bit of sense you have spoken in months." Dean said quite seriously. "I noticed you and Ron weren't together; what happened there?"

"It's a very long story that I might tell you sometime over a cup of tea."

"Right we are going to have to tell Millie about all of this; I'm really not looking forward to this at all." Hermione said nothing and just followed Dean up the stairs towards their daughter's room.

"Hi honey, how was your first year at Hogwarts?" Hermione said trying to smile.

"It was so good, I was amazing." Millie almost started bouncing up and down.

"Sweetheart, we have something we need to talk to you about." Dean led her towards her bed so that they were sat on either side of her. "Your mother is going to be moving out of the house. We still love each other very much and we love you and you're brothers so much, but we have decided not to live together anymore."

"I will still see you all the time and you will come and stay with me loads; it just means you are going to have two bedrooms and two houses." Hermione could see the tears welling up in her daughter's eyes and it was tearing her apart.

"If you love each other then why aren't you staying together, people who love each other stay together." She said sobbing back the tears.

"It's not that simple, we love each other just not in the same way as before." Dean put his arm around Millie's shoulder.

"You can't get divorced, I will never see you." Millie couldn't talk anymore because of her crying.


	15. Big announcements

Hermione sat in her new flat, which she had bought two weeks ago. She had forgotten how lonely it could be living on your own especially if you'd been living with three young children and a husband for a long time.

"Right come on Hermione; stop feeling sorry for yourself you have to do this eventually." She grabbed her bag and headed towards the fireplace. She felt her food hit the bottom of her stomach as the floo pulled her towards the ministry.

"Hi Justin, have you seen Harry this morning?" She asked as she walked in to the office.

"Erm, I think I saw him walking towards his office." Justin looked up from his desk; the amount of paperwork that needed to be done after the Ernie incident was unbelievable. "How is Ron doing? I went to see him at the hospital, but they wouldn't let me in."

"That would be Lavender she won't let anybody see him."

"I thought they had broken up." Justin looked confused.

"They had, but he's lost his memory and he is doing her damnedest to make sure he remembers things how she wants him to remember." Hermione tried not to sound too angry.

"Oh right." Justin didn't know how to respond so he just went back to his work. Hermione headed straight to Harry's office where she found him furiously trying to get rid of a puddle of water in the middle of his office.

"Sorry Hermione I'll be with you in a moment, but I think George has snuck in to my office."

"Have you tried just cleaning it up the muggle way?" Hermione started laughing as she pulled a tissue from her pocket. As she put the tissue down the amount of water on the floor reduced and she just laughed. "You know you've been wizard so long that you've forgotten how to be muggle."

"Yeah, I'll get something for the rest of that. So Hermione to what do I owe this pleasure?"

"There is something I really need to talk to you about." She sat down in the chair on the near side of the desk.

"This sounds ominous." Harry smiled wryly.

"The thing is, I've decided I really need to quit my job." Hermione waited for Harry to respond, but after a couple of moments of silence she continued. "These past few months have just taken so much out of me and my life has changed so much. I just want some time to sort everything out and just have some time to myself."

"I understand what you want, but you can't leave we have nobody better than you."

"Justin is very good at his job and he's very dedicated I am sure you can give it to him. I will help to finish all the paper work until it's finished, but I really need to leave."

"Right ok, but you have to promise me that this isn't just because of the Ron thing." Harry walked around and put his hand on Hermione's shoulder.

"It is partly, but there are many other reasons. Don't worry I'm not going to spend my days pining about Ron; I have plans but I just want to discuss them with Ginny first and then I'll tell you."

"Ok, what I'm going to do is tell Justin that he is going to take your job from next week. You are going to spend this week showing him the ropes and getting that paperwork done."

"Thank you so much Harry." She gave him a huge hug and a kiss on the cheek. Worked seemed so much easier over the next week now that she knew she was going to have some time off. Justin was the perfect replacement for her; she never would have thought that at school but he had really grown up since he joined the ministry.

Things were slowly getting better with her home life as she and Dean made a plan of how to share the children, it did involve her getting a house so they had somewhere to sleep when they stayed over, but she was ok with that. The twins were so far adapting well to their parents splitting up but Millie was still finding it difficult.

"I can't believe you're no longer an auror." Ginny said putting two pumpkin juices on that dining table at Hermione's.

"I know it's so bizarre having all this time to myself, I'm slowly getting this right again. However, I do need your help with a couple of things."

"Ok, it all depends on what it is you want me to help you with." Ginny took a sip of her juice.

"Well I've decided what I want to do with my life now that I'm not an auror. It's perfect and I don't know why it took me so long to think about it; I am going to buy a bookshop." Hermione's face lit up at the thought of being surrounded by so many books.

"That sounds brilliant, but what do you need me for?"

"I was just wondering if you could help me with some of the setup, you know, ordering the rights books and some decorating and that. I have found the right place and the bank has agreed to give me some of the money; all I have to do now is get the owner of the building to agree to the price."

"Why don't you just buy a bookshop and you would be half way there?"

"I thought about that, but I want to make exactly how I want it. So if I get an empty building I can just go a bit crazy with it." Ginny could see the excitement in Hermione's eyes; it was the happiest she'd seen her in a long time.

"So what is the second thing you need?"

"I need you to get Ron to meet me so we can try and talk things out. I know he can't remember anything about me, but at least I can make him try."

"Oh, oh!" Ginny started bouncing around.

"What on earth is wrong with you?" Hermione had a puzzled look on her face.

"I can't believe I nearly forgot to tell you this; Ron decided to leave Lavender, he couldn't stand her. She kept telling him all these things about their relationship that wasn't true and he asked Harry about a few things. So he just took the children and left; he's staying at the burrow now." Hermione couldn't believe her luck this could be her chance to get Ron back.


	16. Tying up loose ends

Hermione stood and looked around her brand new bookshop she had just bought. Granted there were no books in it, not even bookshelves, but she could already smell them. Hermione couldn't believe she hadn't thought of this before, she loved books ever since she was a young child. She wanted to make it her perfect bookshop with hundreds of spell and magical books combined with the best of muggle books.

"Hey Hermione," Ginny had come through the door behind her. "I have brought you some gifts and Harry is on the way with more." She was stood there with a couple of pots of paint and some brushes.

"Thank you so much." Hermione took the paint and brushes and put them on a table in the corner.

"You know that we could have this whole place done in a couple of minutes with magic so why are we doing this the muggle way?"

"I want this place perfect, the exact way I want it, and the only way for that is to do it the muggle way. You don't have to help me, but I want to do it the muggle way."

"Don't worry I'm not going to let you do this all on your own."

"So what is Harry doing?" Hermione opened the tin of paint.

"He is getting a ladder from some muggle place he said something about doing the whole thing properly."

"See he has the right idea!" Hermione beamed, but changed the subject very quickly to something she had on her mind since talking to Ginny a couple of weeks ago. "Have you spoken to Ron about coming to meet me?"

"Yes I did and he agreed to meet you for dinner at the Burrow tomorrow. Is that good for you?"

"Yes anything is good for me I just want to talk to him without Lavender polluting his mind."

"Don't worry about that I have given her the marching orders; the only time she's allowed to come near the Burrow is to see the kids an she can only talk to mum when she's there." Ginny picked up a brush and started to spread paint on to the wall.

"Gees, I bet she didn't like that!" Hermione laughed t the idea of Lavender being told what to do. If anyone was going to do it Ginny was the person for the job.

"I didn't give her the chance to argue I just left."

"Well I know not to make you angry then." Both women laughed; they kept painting until Harry arrived with the ladder when he started the do the ceiling. By the evening the three had finished painting the entire room and it was a step closer to becoming a bookshop.

"Right I have to go and get myself cleaned up now because Dean is bringing the children over for dinner and I can't have that looking like this." Hermione indicated to the paint all down her front.

"Alright, remember you need to be around at the Burrow by 7 o'clock tomorrow." Hermione left her two friends outside the shop and apparated home. She looked at the clock on her wall and realised she only had an hour to get everything ready. A couple of spells later and the flat was tidy and the food was preparing its self. She ran to the shower and managed to get everything sorted just as there was a knock on her front door.

"Mum!" Her three children came flying through the front door just as she opened it.

"Hey guys, good to see you too." She tried to hug all of them at the same time; she couldn't wait until she had a house and enough space for the children to start staying overnight. "Hey Dean, do you want to stay for a bit?"

"No I'm good thank you; I'll be back at 10 to pick the kids up." Guilt went through Hermione's body every time she saw Dean.

"Right, who's ready for dinner?" Hermione said closing the door after Dean left.

"Mum, now that you own a bookshop does that mean I will get free books for school?" Millie asked as she sat at the table. The kids had found it difficult to adjust to Hermione and Dean breaking up, Millie had found it the hardest, but they were slowly adapting to the idea.

"Well I will still have to pay for them, I don't just get given books; they will be cheaper though."

"I will be able to get all the new books." Millie grinned.

"Yes, I may even get you to pick some of them to put in the shop." Hermione couldn't wait until she had the bookshop ready to go. To be honest she really wished she hadn't messed things up, but now she was going to focus on getting Ron to remember her.

"Right guys I will see you tomorrow afternoon." She kissed each of her children on the head before Dean took them back to his house.

"Sorry Hermione before I leave I need to give you these." He handed her an envelope and apparated away with the children. Hermione closed the door and pulled the paper out of the envelope to find her divorce papers inside.

She couldn't hold it back and she just started crying uncontrollably; she couldn't believe she was getting divorced. She couldn't believe she had been so stupid and that Dean might never speak to her properly ever again. Hermione signed the papers and got her owl, which Ron had given her as a present a couple of days before he lost his memory, and sent the papers to Dean. She knew the longer they sat on the table the harder it would be for her to sign them.

Hermione spent the whole of the next day with butterflies swimming around her stomach; the only respite she had was seeing her children for the afternoon. Once that was over the butterflies were back and choosing clothes to go to the Burrow in became impossible. She spent almost an hour selecting an outfit to go and see Ron; it felt like the first time they went on a date after school. She stood outside the Burrow her heart was beating a she knocked on the door.

"Hey Hermione." Ron opened the door with the smile that made her knees melt.

"Hi, I brought some fire whiskey; it used to be your favourite I don't know if you still like it." Hermione's voice cracked as she spoke.

"Oh yes it's still very much my favourite." Ron smiled. "Would you like to come in?"

"Thank you; how are you doing are you back at work yet?"

"Harry has got me back in to the office, but I won't be allowed to go out into the field until I pass a few tests."

"That's good, I'm sure you'll be fine. You were a great auror it must all be in there somewhere you know like muscle memory."

"Thank you, would you like a cup of tea while we wait for dinner to be ready?" Ron placed the fire whiskey down on the table.

"You're cooking?" Hermione giggled as she remembered the last time Ron tried to cook and he nearly burnt their kitchen down.

"Well my mum prepared most of it I'm just doing the last little bit." Ron blushed.

"Don't worry; I would love a cup of tea if you're still offering." A couple of minutes later Ron came in to the dining room with two cups of tea.

"Oh my God you remembered." Hermione said after taking a sip of her tea.

"What?" Ron looked confused. "I don't suffer from short term memory loss I do remember that you asked me for a cup of tea."

"Oh my God I'm sorry I didn't mean that." Hermione laughed but her face went a little red. "No I meant that you put vanilla in my tea. I love vanilla in my tea, you used to do that all that time."

"Right, I don't know why I did it actually. I just thought it would be something that you would like." Ron smiled. Hermione loved the next few hours just hanging out with Ron; they turned back in to kids getting to know each other again. Hermione thought about not telling Ron certain embarrassing things, but she didn't want to hide anything from him.

"I've had a great time; do you want to meet again sometime?"

"I would love to see you again I had a really good time; I will send you a message from work when I find out my schedule." Hermione smiled from ear to ear.

"I look forward to your message; see you soon." Hermione went to walk out of the house but Ron grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her in to a long kiss.


End file.
